Private Bar in Cleveland, Ohio

Made for a private bar in Cleveland, Ohio. This pencil sketched artwork is the main design for the bar interior. This will eventually become a reverse glass sign in many techniques including gold leaf.

Date

January 13, 2015

Sam Smith Reverse Glass Sign

This reverse gilded and acid etched glass sign was made for Sam Smith from Calgary in Canada in 2014.

Sam is a world class tattooist and artist, her boyfriend commissioned me to make this glass sign as a present for her. Sam came over to stay with friends in London and at the same time came down to pick up the work and take it back to her home in Canada.

The techniques used on the sign were deep blasting, acid mica stipple , blended glazes with matt gilding and a water gilded outline of 23 crt gold leaf. The frame is mahogany and has been French polished.

Date

October 12, 2014

John Saville & Sons, Chemist, York

John Saville [1834-1926], was a native of Sheffield. His father of the same name was for many years proprietor of the Red Lion Inn in the market town of Howden in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

John Saville junior founded one of York's longest lasting retail & pharmaceutical chemist businesses, first established just a stone's throw from the City's medieval gateway, Monk Bar, at No. 4 Goodramgate (Monk Bar Within) in May 1876.

In late 2011, the York Castle Museum decided on the need to refurbish its famous long-established Victorian street, known as Kirkgate, and originally created in 1938 and now an iconic part of the Museum, comprising a cobbled street, hansom cab, as well the original facades and recreated interiors of several shops and emporiums, together with a police cell and Victorian schoolroom. Several of the shops have taken the names of long-established York businesses such as Banks Music, Sessions Printers and Terry's sweet shop, so it was with considerable excitement that the decision was made to resurrect the Saville name alongside several other new shops, and to recreate the interior of the druggist's and chemist's premises as it would have looked at the turn of the 20th Century.

With the assistance of local historian and former Saville's Photographic employee, Peter Stanhope and with the backing of Saville family members & the then curator, wendolen Whittaker, the interior of an original Victorian druggist's & chemist's premises in Kirkgate was wonderfully recreated. Features include an impressive high counter, tiers of original Victorian mahogany shelving forming a striking backdrop to the counter itself and upon which are displayed a striking array of original Victorian tallboys and chemist's jars, with incomprehensible latin drug names adorning each of their fronts. Copies of original Victorian Saville labels add an important aura of additional authenticity to many of these.

In June 2012, the newly refurbished Kirkgate was re-launched amid much public excitement & enthusiasm.

Whilst looking through the family archives in preparation for the above, we came across an old photograph of the original interior of the Goodramgate premises, probably taken circa 1900. The counter is piled high with an assortment of drugs and neatly packaged products. My great grandfather, Walter Perfect Saville, stands to one side, his assistant to the other. Behind the counter, hanging on the back wall of the shop can be seen a wonderful piece of original late Victorian advertising art – a large engraved glass, its fine lettering and decorative embellishments promoting the efficacious benefits of one of the business's longest lasting and most popular products, Saville Golden Liver & Stomach Mixture.

So it was that we were fortunate to make contact with David Smith in Torquay, one of the few craftsmen with the skill and ability to enable us to recreate (as far as was possible from the information provided in the photograph) that now sadly long lost piece of original Victorian advertising art. This wonderful piece will put the final & definitive Saville stamp on the York Castle Museum's chemist's and druggist's premises in Kirkgate and provide something as close to the Victorian original as is realistically possible, not least in using the same labour-intensive techniques, skills and craftsmanship of those late Victorian engravers and glaziers. It is a beautifully designed work by a truly unique modern artist and craftsman.

Rod Barron
Sevenoaks, Kent
Great great grandson of John Saville [1834-1926]
August 2014

Date

August 23, 2014

Gastronomy Grocer

Hand sketched artwork for a Gastronomy Grocer shop in South Devon, England.

Date

May 23, 2014

category: Glass Signs

Manchester United V Liverpool – Glass sign

Made for Sky Sports channel and Premier League Productions. This glass sign was produced for the show which shows the making of the glass sign for the Manchester United V Liverpool game.

Date

April 24, 2014

category: Sketches

Dave Butler Sketch

This is a design I made for a dear friend’s 60th birthday. Someone I met over 20 years ago at Rick Glawson’s California Conclave. Dave has been a huge inspiration to me and many others. Dave has such a lovely family, his daughter Shiloh Butler O’rourke organised his friends to make artwork in different mediums for him to open on his birthday. Happy Birthday David Butler!

Date

April 22, 2014

category: Glass Signs

Hand made gilded Boulangerie glass sign

Hand made gilded Boulangerie glass sign for a private clients London kitchen.

These sets of gilded glass door surrounds are hand signwritten and water gilded to give the charm of a French boulangerie feel. Made for a bespoke kitchen surround in central London in 2014.

Photos courtesy of cabinetery / kitchen design by Increation.

Date

April 21, 2014

Eco Soapia – Traditional Soap Company, Central London

Hand sketched artwork for Eco Soapia based in London. Glass Sign to follow.

Date

April 14, 2014

Reverse Etched and gilded glass Monogramme

This glass sign was made for John Mayer in 2013 as a thank you gift.

The glass is deep sand carved and water gilded in 24crt Gold Leaf ,12crt silver and 18crt lemon gold . The outer edge has brilliant cut facets and acid mica border with a bright gold and silver mirror finish . The shadow and outline is hand painted with a deep traditional colour of maroon enamel. The glass was slumped (heat curved) over a stainless steel ring inside my kiln to a temperature of 680 degrees. The back of this glass sign was hand sign written and the mahogany frame was french polished.

Date

September 15, 2013

The National Library of Egypt

A commemorative glass gilded plaque commissioned by The National Library of Egypt, The Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation and Dar al-Kutub Manuscript Project in 2012

Date

Jameson Whiskey, Label Design for St. Patricks Day 2013

David Smith, a traditional glass artist, has designed a special edition bottle for Jameson on St. Patrick's Day. The contemporary bottle design was inspired by the intricate glass etching and ornate gilding synonymous with the décor of great Dublin pubs where Jameson has been enjoyed for generations. David's design reflects a classic back bar mirror and encourages you to "Embrace Your Irish Spirit" as part of the March celebrations.

This special limited Jameson bottle is the second edition in a series of annual releases by different artists. Designed to celebrate St Patrick's Day, the bottle is available in 24 markets around the world from February 2013. The uniqueness of the design and limited availability of the bottle means this is a must have for those who want to embrace their Irish spirit with friends on St Patrick's Day.

The limited edition St. Patrick's Day bottle forms part of Jameson's St. Patrick's Live celebrations. The Jameson Live Broadcast will take place in the Old Jameson Distillery, Dublin, while Jameson St. Patrick’s Live Dublin will be the flagship event for the worldwide celebrations.

Whether you are enjoying the celebrations in Dublin, Moscow, Johannesburg, or New York, Jameson brings the St. Patrick's Live celebrations to you.

Included in these photos are pictures of the day at the distillery in Dublin with family and friends. Some of the images also show how the artwork was created. Many thanks to everyone at Jameson Whiskey, Ireland

Date

February 23, 2013

The House of Beauty – Wellswood, Torquay

Torbay's most luxurious and bespoke beauty salon and spa. The work consists of an Ornate gilded reverse glass sign 16ft x 42", Water gilded in 24crt gold leaf and 12crt gilded numbers with matt burnished bevels on a deep brown background.

Lovely clients to work with on a project like this. Thanks Roy and Sarah Ricketts.

Date

January 8, 2013

The Ginstitute, Portobello Road, London, England

London's second smallest museum can be found above this Notting Hill bar. The museum has included a vintage copper still, Prohibition-era bottles of the stuff and antiquarian cocktail books. It also contains the Ginstitute, where Mr Jake F Burger holds well-researched classes on the subject.

Lubricated by several glasses of Tom Collins, students learn about the history, the botanicals used to flavour gin, and create their own blend to take away in a personally signed bottle.

These three gilded opulent glass signs were made to give the atmosphere of a traditional London bar, common throughout London at the turn of the century.

The craftsmanship in these panels were all hand created using traditional methods from the Turn of the Century.

Date

December 18, 2012

L is for Lear – The Nonsence Alphabet, Knowsley, Liverpool

The glass is 6ft by 4ft and is half inch laminated. (it was heavy!) I was commisioned to design an elaborate quirky style letter L with under text saying (is for LEAR). The glass was brilliant cut into using rotating stone wheels ,this technique is called Brilliant cutting, each cut was blended from 12crt Gold Leaf to 16 ,18 and then finally 24crt. The panel has various tones of acid etching and mother of pearl inlay. Various glazes in colour's of reds and browns were applied and then matt gilded in 18crt goldleaf.

The painting was all hand signwritten using signwriting quills. Enjoy the pictures. Thanks..

Date

November 22, 2011

Monogramme Glass Sign

Date

November 1, 2011

V&A Museum – Reverse Glass

This piece of reverse glass gilding will be exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum London. The show will run from September 2011 to January 2012 in the V&A's Porter gallery. The V&A and Crafts Council will retain ownership of the piece after the show.

For more information on the exhibition visit: www.vam.ac.uk

Date

August 10, 2011

Elaborate Victorian Style Mirror

This is one of two mirrors recently completed. The mirrors were hand made using the traditional Embossing and brilliant cutting techniques from over 100 years ago.

The design was hand sketched ,work was then started in March of 2010 . I took longer than usual to make these mirrors as I wanted to capture the richness of a genuine Victorian piece ,and the wide variety of techniques that the original craftsmen would of have employed. I have put together a lot of photos from start to finish to show the procedure , some are taken from different angles to show off the light on the faceted cutting , please excuse the amount of pictures taken.

These are the exact kind of mirrors you would see in Lavish surroundings ,opulent grand Houses and Beautiful Victorian Pubs around London and the British Isles. Not to mention places like Las Vegas, Dubai, Monaco where beautiful mirrors and furniture are the norm.

Date

July 6, 2011

Bonnie View Custom Logo

I was approached by a very nice client from Pennsylvania, USA to design him some artwork for his 1890's Carriage House.

This artwork was first thumbnail drawn and then rendered using illustrator and Photoshop.

Date

June 5, 2011

Michael Jackson Fused Glass

I made this piece of glass art for my friends daughter who is crazy mad on anything to do with Michael Jackson .

There are three pieces of glass 4ml thick and in between each layer are frits of crushed coloured glass ,each layer has a different colour frit sprinkled onto the face of the glass, when fused (melted) in the kiln together it becomes one piece of glass. The coloured frits that are applied to the separate pieces of glass come out of the kiln as a different colour pallet. An endless creative art form, so much is possible from this kind of art.

Date

May 30, 2011

24crt Gold Leaf Slumped Head Lamp Glass

Kiln Formed Glass and gilded with 24crt Gold Leaf using traditional water gilded gelatine size. Made for a vintage vehicles front headlights.

Date

May 26, 2011

Sulis The Natural Mineral Water of Bath

This is an Original turn of the century glass advertising sign that was restored back to it's former glory.

I took a trace of the back side of the glass and then reproduced it using the tools in Gerber's Omega software. The original glass panels were all hand screen printed so I decided to make this restoration as close to the original sharpness for the text as possible.

The plotter came in very handy. Hope you like it.

Date

May 26, 2011

Golds that Glisten

Hand made reverse glass advertising sign using over 100 year old techniques. This Glass sign was first hand drawn and designed onto paper. I then took the design and built it on computer refining shapes back and fourth.

From sketching to scanning and vectoring the shapes with the mouse and keyboard. The final artwork was photographed and applied to screen and then the

glass was printed with black firing glass enamel which I had highly pigmented for density. The print came out crisp and sharp with excellent detail all over,this was then fired into the glass at high temperatures. I now let the glass cool to room temperature and applied a resist for the lettering to be acid embossed, I also brilliant cut puntie circles and edge cuts into areas of the design around the illustration of the girl, these were finished crystal clear from polishing with felt wheels. Once all the embossing techniques were finished I curved the glass round a stainless steel mould and then finally water gilded in various shades of gold leaf with some ver eglomise in areas to give depth and detail to the end artwork. Made in 2010 .

Date

December 28, 2010

Shamrock Whiskey Glass

This glass was a private commission for a restaurant in Bath UK. Three of these panels were made, they are silvered and glue chipped. Size 3ftx2ft made in 1999.